STAKEHOLDER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT: A SUCCESS STORY
TIOGA, ND PIPELINE SPILL CLEANUP
TIOGA Pipeline Spill
• Pipeline release of 20,600 bbls of Bakken
crude oil discovered by landowner
(September 2013)
• Source of release: probable lightning
strike that damaged the near surface
pipeline
• Release covers about 14 acres of Jensen
Wheat Field
• This is (one of) the largest oil spills to
land in continental U.S. history
Key Takeaways Upfront – Stakeholder Relationships
• Limit assumptions as it’s best to keep an open mind
• Fill your team with the best experts and rely on them; get creative
• Be the interpreter – highly technical concepts need non-technical
explanations and presentations
• Visual presentation of key concepts is essential to understanding
• Provide consistent project narrative and build on it
• Above all else, build AND maintain trust of Stakeholders
- Be honest, gain their input, manage expectations
- Understand their unique values and concerns
Project History
• September 29, 2013 - Steve Jensen discovers Bakken Crude
Oil release in his wheat field during harvest and contacts
Tesoro, who shut pipeline down soon thereafter
• October 1, 2013 - Tesoro Contingency Planning Manager
and Response Team plus Environmental Consultant on-site
• October 2013/March 2014 - Emergency Response/Pipeline
Relocation
• March 2014 to Present – Investigation and Cleanup
(Excavation and Thermal Desorption)
Looking Southwest
Looking East
Looking Northwest
Soil Treatment After Excavation – Thermal Desorption Unit (TDU)
Numerous Constraints
• Very significant release, high profile
• Numerous stakeholders – property owners, local community, state
regulators and government
• Return land to farming use - requirement of owner
• Limited infrastructure available – hinders cleanup choices
• Short timeframe – state regulators demanded remediation plan be
submitted quickly
• Evolving remediation approach – adjustments to match site conditions
- Building remedy before completion of investigation
Additional Considerations
• High amount of national attention:
- Hinged off of interest about North
Dakota/Bakken crude
- Greenpeace was monitoring, multiple stories
in the NY Times
• Local values:
- Farming/agricultural area
- Very high value put on land ownership
- Limited options for remediation
(purchase of the site by Tesoro was “off the
table”)
- Return to agricultural use is key
Photo Credit: NY Times, November 2014
Stakeholders and Resources
• Landowners - Steve and Patty Jensen
- Final authority on cleanup plan
- Site located on 31 acres of 160 acre parcel of larger
property
• North Dakota Department of Health (NDDH)
- Responsible for regulatory cleanup goal decision
- Remediation technical review
• Neighbors/Public
- Very involved community
- Generally accepting of oil companies
- Transparent nature of North Dakota Dept of Health
information (website)
• North Dakota State University
- Agricultural/soil experts
- Helped Tesoro understand local values
Long-Term Response – DEVELOPMENT OF PLAN
• Collaborated with Landowner:
-
Explored and aligned expectations, concerns & communication needs
Incorporated site specific Issues: land use, limitations with planting and harvesting
Utilized their local knowledge of available resources (e.g. trucking and materials)
Onsite presence was/is key
• Collaborated with NDDH:
- Identified applicable cleanup standards and permitting requirements for air, water,
NPDES, SPCC, SWPPP
- Identified other stakeholders/resources – NDSU Dept. of Soil Science
- Helped Tesoro appreciate stakeholder interdependencies (Landowner/NDDH/NDSU)
- Identified information needed to build project consensus, including larger public
• Technical Team:
- Engaged a high performing team of technical experts
- Included agricultural soil scientists, site characterization experts, remediation
engineers, world-class cleanup contractors, Lean practitioners
Long Term Response - IMPLEMENTATION
• Stakeholder:
- Involved NDDH and Stakeholders in resolution
- Engaged Stakeholders as part of the team, not as adversaries
- Constantly applied ‘Check and Adjust’ mentality
• Landowner:
- Communicated schedule, approach, technical nuances “In English” to them
- Respected and embraced their different paradigms and values
- Welcomed their ongoing input and ideas
• NDDH:
- Presented them with routine progress updates, built upon a familiar
template
- Built the foundation for open, honest and frequent communication with
these important regulators
• NDSU:
• Provided guidance and research on crude-impacted agricultural soil
Long-term Response - REPORTING
• Understand differences in audiences
• Internal Tesoro
• External: landowners, NDDH, NDSU, public
• Standard, consistent, transparent, visual, intelligible content in
presentations and reports
• Maintain stakeholder engagement to ensure path is agreed upon
Current Stakeholder Relationship
• Landowners and Tesoro have continued to work together
(the pie is very important!)
• NDDH and Tesoro work together to solve problems
- Approaches developed at Tioga site being used at other cleanups
- NDDH considers how cleanups are handled when assessing potential
enforcement
- Positive stakeholder relations can result in a significant reduction in potential
fines
• NDSU is an integral Project Team Member
- NDSU is key to returning site to agricultural use
- On-site field research will not only help the landowners, but also the State,
Tesoro & other companies in the future
• Soil Remediation Contractor (Nelson Environmental) is
involved in project optimization and troubleshooting
Key Takeaways
• Use your resources – field personnel are key to maintaining positive landowner and
stakeholder relationships
• They are your main eyes and ears
• Integral for Landowner satisfaction
• Understand and integrate local values into all work – understand that the values of
others may differ significantly from your own, or from other projects
• Communicate early and often to all Stakeholders
• You meet someone every day that knows more about a topic than you do, so why not
try to learn every day (PDCA)
• Good decisions require good data, constant collaboration and strong trust. Don’t
short change the process by “saving money” up front (“go slow to go fast”).
Questions?